"There is fire at the back and we could see smoke coming from the front and figured there [were] probably some big fuel reserves around the wings in the middle, [which was] just sort of where we [were] heading because we couldn't get out the back door and couldn't get out the side door."

Ms Bartsch said she was still struggling to come to terms with the crash but said it was "incredible" that "just about everybody" made it out alive.

"Probably a lot of that is due to the fact that the plane itself landed in this field that was quite deeply ploughed dirt so we actually nestled into it and dug a big trench through it," she said.

"I think that probably absorbed a lot of the impact and hence people's injuries probably weren't as bad as they otherwise could have been, and so almost everybody was able to get themselves out without too much trouble once the doors were open."

She said her initial reaction once the adrenalin from the experience began to wear off was one of shock.

"I imagine it probably will be something that in years to come I see as a very significant and probably will have some impact, but at this stage I think the first thing is adrenalin, the second thing 10 minutes later was shock, and there was that sort of emotional outpouring of shock after we realised we were safe and after we realised there were a lot of people around us that were safe.

"I don't really know how to process this. I actually deliberately stood on the road for a while afterwards, watching the wreckage burning and trying to absorb it," she told ABC News Breakfast.

"I was constantly saying to myself: you are looking at this actually happening. You were just on there. This is not a movie. It's hard to grasp."

She said the experience had not put her off flying.

"I'm concerned this will put people off [travelling to Burma], and I'd like to encourage people to think of it as a freak accident," she said.

"We don't know the exact cause yet. There is some suggestion there was a problem with one of the engines before we landed. We don't know that."